Federal budget of Switzerland

The development of 5 different taxes between 1990 and 2010, which account for 80% - 85% of the annual revenue.

The Swiss federal budget (German: schweizer Bundesbudget) refers to the annual revenue (money received) and expenditures (money spend) of the Swiss Confederation. As budget expenditures are issued on a yearly basis by the government, the federal council, and have to be approved by the parliament,[1] they reflect the country's Fiscal policy.

The budget principles are defined by the Swiss Constitution[1] and have been restated most recently in the 1999 fiscal guidelines of the confederation.[2] In 2010 the federal budget of Switzerland had a size of 62.8 billion Swiss francs, which is an equivalent 11.35% of the country's GDP in that year. In 2014 the federal budget of Switzerland had an estimated size of 66.353 billion Swiss francs, which is an estimated equivalent 10.63% of the country's GDP in that year.
Note that the Swiss federal budget only comprises 31.7% of Swiss public expenditure, the rest being managed by the cantons and the municipalities directly.[3]

Contents

As the federal system in Switzerland divides the nation into three levels of governance, confederation, cantons and municipalities, the federal budget refers solely to the revenues and expenditures at the national level. The regional (canton) budgets, as well as the budgets of the more than 2500 municipalities are not within the competence of the federal government or parliament.[4] Their revenues and expenditures are therefore not counted as part of the federal budget, but they together amount to more than 60% of total public spending.[3] However, the different budget levels are fiscally linked together. There are political instruments as for instance the "new fiscal harmonization"-law (Neuer Finanzausgleich), which regulate financial payments from the federal government to the cantons and municipalities as well as from the fiscally more to the fiscally less potent cantons.[5]

Within these important frameworks many principles of distribution of money are regulated, as for example how different projects can be realised, using joint funds from municipalities, cantons and the confederation alike. In this sense, the different budget levels are fiscally interconnected, but politically separated from each other.

Although the right to decide upon budget expenditures ultimately resides with the parliament, these mechanisms of redistribution constrain its ability to exercise this right. Since these transfer expenditures are purpose bound by either legal or constitutional frameworks, they can not easily be changed and are therefore fixed in the short run. The amount of such fixed expenditures were at roughly 55% in 2010.[6]

In 1999, the Swiss government published its new fiscal guidelines which state the countries goals, principles and main instruments to achieve publicly beneficial fiscal policies.[7] Challenges and necessary reforms to meet them are also conceptualised in these guidelines. Many of the proposed reforms are processes of which some have been realised in the mean time, as for example the above-mentioned new fiscal harmonisation law in 2008,[8] and some are still under continued reform (i.e. the various social welfare programs).
Generally, the federal budget has to function as the economical backbone of the government and allow it to realise its main goal, the welfare of the people. In order to achieve this overarching purpose, the federal council stated the three main goals of its fiscal policy:

Goal of allocation: Resources have to be used and administered in a way that the resulting products are of the greatest possible use to the people. For this purpose a market oriented economy is the most efficient way of allocation. Therefore, for any given task market oriented solutions shall be sought.[9]

Goal of distribution: The distribution of market products amongst the people shall happen in a "socially fair" way. What counts as "fair" is part of a wide-ranging political discussion. The distributional goal of the federal budget has to respect and reflect the taken decisions and to amend the market oriented economy of the country by a "social dimension", thereby making it a "social market economy"[9]

Goal of stability: The federal budget shall be used in order to stabilise the economy. Therefore, the government shall strive to save resources in economically strong times, but stimulate the economy through investments in times of downturns.[10]

Out of these goals the federal council has forged a list of budgetary principles including the principles of transparency, efficiency oriented investment, market freedom, public-private partnership, fair taxation, preferability of indirect taxes, balanced expenditures and more.[11]

The lion's share of the money the confederation has at its disposal comes from the federal taxes it collects. For the year 2010 92.6% of all the confederations income (a total of 62.833 billion CHF) were gained from tax revenues. The largest part of it, 32.9% came from the value-added tax (VAT). The second most important tax revenue in 2010 was the direct federal tax which contributed 28.5% of the whole budget. Additionally the withholding tax (7.5%), the mineral-oil tax (8.2%), the stamp duty (4.5%) and the tobacco tax (3.7%) as well as other taxes (7.2%) added to the total federal budget.[12]

Over all, the revenue from these federal taxes in Switzerland is equal to approximately 10.5% of its GDP.[13] Some of the non fiscal revenues of the federal budget are for example its share in the profits of the Swiss national bank (1.3%), revenues from different payments (2%) or revenues from investments (0.5%).

Since taxes are the main source for the budget, and because taxes fluctuate according to the yearly economical performance of a country, the revenue side of the federal budget is more difficult to predict than the expenditures. Revenue values in a newly constructed budget are mere expectations, constructed upon statistical models, whereas expenditures are the politically planned usage of money, and are therefore more easily predictable. In the case of Switzerland, especially the withholding tax prediction often turns out to be imprecise due to the tax's highly volatile nature.[14] It can fluctuate in the range of several billion Swiss francs from year to year (e.g. from 5.3 billion CHF in 1998, to only 1.6 billion CHF in 1999).[15] An analysis of forecasting errors between the years 2001 and 2010 revealed that generally federal revenues are being overestimated during times of recession. In the following periods of economical recovery they are usually underestimated.[16]

In the year 2010 the confederation spend a total of 59,266 billion Swiss francs (10.7% of GDP). The biggest part, 31.1% went to social welfare, followed by 17.1% that was spent for financial and tax purposes. Other expenditure includes 13.9% for the transport sector, 10.2% for education and research, 7.4% for national defence, 6.2% for agriculture and alimentation, and 4.4% for foreign relations.

Looking at past budgets, the expenditures of the Swiss Confederation have been growing from 7% of GDP in 1960 to 9.7% in 1990 and to 10.7% in 2010. The biggest change within the budget is happening in the sectors of social welfare and finance & tax. These two sectors have been growing from 35% in 1990 to 48.2% in 2010 and the Federal Department of Finance estimates that by 2015 they will account for more than half the federal budget expenditures. On the other side, during the same period, a significant reduction of expenditures has been occurring in the sectors of agriculture and national defence; from 26.5% in to 12.4% (estimation for the year 2015).[17]

The budget for the 2014 fiscal year (also demonstrating the basic budget structure) can be found below (all values in billion CHF).[18]

Description

Expenditures

Social welfare programmes

21.8

Finances and taxes

10.0

Transport and infrastructure

8.7

Education and research

7.2

Defence

4.9

Agriculture and food

3.7

Foreign relationships

3.6

Total:

66.4

Looking at the federal budget in a different way professor R. Frey notes that "the [swiss] federal budget is to a considerable extent a transfer budget."[19] What this means is that by looking at who uses the money (and not what it is being spent on) an overwhelming 74.6% (2010) of the federal budget is merely transferred to other institutions, as for example the Swiss cantons, municipalities and the various institutions of social welfare. In this view, the confederation uses merely 20.5% of its budget for own expenditures (personnel-, operating- and defence related expenditures).[20] The reason for these low own costs are that in Switzerland the orderly implementation and control of national laws is often not part of the competences of the confederation but of the individual cantons.[19] Exceptions are national defence, border control, foreign relations, etc. But other expensive posts such as schooling, police or public transportation are (mostly) organised and financed on the cantonal level.

Due to the development of budget expenditures in the 1990s, the Swiss parliament and subsequently the people, voted in favour of a new fiscal instrument to reduce government debt in 2001. The so-called debt brake was enacted in 2003 and reinforced the constitutional principle that expenditures have to be mainly financed by revenues and not through an increase in public debt.[21] The mechanism of the debt brake works in a way that introduces a ceiling on spending that is being calculated on a yearly basis. There are adjustment punishments for exceeded budgets, which in turn will force public debt down in following years. Importantly all sorts of government expenditures are equally covered by the debt brake. The only exception to this rule are extraordinary spendings that have to be approved by both chambers of parliament. This exception is supposed to allow the government to react to emergency situations such as for example disaster relieve or the 2008 UBS bailout.[22]

Despite slow economic growth (even negative in 2009), the budgetary debt of Switzerland has declined from 130.3 billion CHF in 2005 to 110.5 billion CHF in 2010. That is a reduction of 15.2% of nominal debt.

1.
Switzerland
–
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’

2.
Parliament
–
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative, elected body of government. Generally a modern parliament has three functions, representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government, historically, parliaments included various kinds of deliberative, consultative, and judicial assemblies. The term is derived from Anglo-Norman parlement, from the verb parler talk, the meaning evolved over time, originally any discussion, conversation, or negotiation, through various kinds of deliberative or judicial groups, often summoned by the monarch. By 1400, it had come to mean in Britain specifically the British supreme legislature, various parliaments are claimed to be the oldest in the world, under varying definitions. The Sicilian Parliament, whose first assembly was convened in 1097, the Icelandic Althing, year 930, but only including the main chiefs. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders, some scholars suggest that in ancient Mesopotamia there was a primitive democratic government where the kings were assessed by council. The same has been said about ancient India, where some form of deliberative assemblies existed, however, these claims are not accepted by most scholars, who see these forms of government as oligarchies. Ancient Athens was the cradle of democracy, the Athenian assembly was the most important institution, and every citizen could take part in the discussions. However, Athenian democracy was not representative, but rather direct, the Roman Senate controlled money, administration, and the details of foreign policy. Some Muslim scholars argue that the Islamic shura is analogous to the parliament, however, others highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system. England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist, under the Anglo-Saxon kings, there was an advisory council, the Witenagemot. The name derives from the Old English ƿitena ȝemōt, or witena gemōt, the first recorded act of a witenagemot was the law code issued by King Æthelberht of Kent ca. 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose, however, the Witan, along with the folkmoots, is an important ancestor of the modern English parliament. As part of the Norman Conquest of England, the new king, William I, did away with the Witenagemot, membership of the Curia was largely restricted to the tenants in chief, the few nobles who rented great estates directly from the king, along with ecclesiastics. William brought to England the feudal system of his native Normandy and this is the original body from which the Parliament, the higher courts of law, and the Privy Council and Cabinet descend. Of these, the legislature is formally the High Court of Parliament, only the executive government is no longer conducted in a royal court. Most historians date the emergence of a parliament with some degree of power to which the throne had to defer no later than the rule of Edward I, like previous kings, Edward called leading nobles and church leaders to discuss government matters, especially finance. A meeting in 1295 became known as the Model Parliament because it set the pattern for later Parliaments, in 1307, Edward I agreed not to collect certain taxes without the consent of the realm

3.
History of Switzerland
–
The early history of the region is tied to that of Alpine culture. Switzerland was inhabited by Gauls and Raetians, and it came under Roman rule in the 1st century BC, gallo-Roman culture was amalgamated with Germanic influence during Late Antiquity, with the eastern part of Switzerland becoming Alemannic territory. The area of Switzerland was incorporated into the Frankish Empire in the 6th century, in the high medieval period, the eastern part became part of the Duchy of Swabia within the Holy Roman Empire while the western part was part of Burgundy. The Swiss Reformation divided the Confederacy and resulted in a history of internal strife between the Thirteen Cantons in the Early Modern period. In the wake of the French Revolution, Switzerland fell to a French invasion in 1798 and was reformed into the Helvetic Republic, the history of Switzerland since 1848 has been largely one of success and prosperity. Archeological evidence suggests that hunter-gatherers were already settled in the north of the Alps in the Middle Paleolithic period 150,000 years ago. By the Neolithic period, the area was densely populated. Remains of Bronze Age pile dwellings from as early as 3800 BC have been found in the areas of many lakes. Around 1500 BC, Celtic tribes settled in the area, the Raetians lived in the eastern regions, while the west was occupied by the Helvetii. In 58 BC, the Helvetii tried to evade migratory pressure from Germanic tribes by moving into Gaul, the alpine region became integrated into the Roman Empire and was extensively romanized in the course of the following centuries. The center of Roman administration was at Aventicum, in 259, Alamanni tribes overran the Limes, putting the settlements on Swiss territory on the frontier of the Roman Empire. The first Christian bishoprics were founded in the fourth century, with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Germanic tribes entered the area. Burgundians settled in the west, while in the north, Alamanni settlers slowly forced the earlier Celto-Roman population to retreat into the mountains, Burgundy became a part of the kingdom of the Franks in 534, two years later, the dukedom of the Alamans followed suit. In the Alaman-controlled region, only isolated Christian communities continued to exist, under the Carolingian kings, the feudal system proliferated, and monasteries and bishoprics were important bases for maintaining the rule. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 assigned Upper Burgundy to Lotharingia, in the 10th century, as the rule of the Carolingians waned, Magyars destroyed Basel in 917 and St. Gallen in 926. Only after the victory of King Otto I over the Magyars in 955 in the Battle of Lechfeld, were the Swiss territories reintegrated into the empire. In the 12th century, the dukes of Zähringen were given authority over part of the Burgundy territories which covered the part of modern Switzerland. They founded many cities, including Fribourg in 1157, and Bern in 1191, under the Hohenstaufen rule, the alpine passes in Raetia and the St Gotthard Pass gained importance

4.
Switzerland in the Napoleonic era
–
During the French Revolutionary Wars, the revolutionary armies marched eastward, enveloping Switzerland in their battles against Austria. In 1798, Switzerland was completely overrun by the French and was renamed the Helvetic Republic, the Helvetic Republic encountered severe economic and political problems. In 1798 the country became a battlefield of the Revolutionary Wars, Gallen, Vaud and Ticino became cantons with equal rights. The Congress of Vienna of 1815 fully re-established Swiss independence and the European powers agreed to permanently recognise Swiss neutrality, at this time, the territory of Switzerland was increased for the last time, by the new cantons of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva. During the last years of the Ancien Régime the growing conflicts throughout the Confederation had weakened and distracted the Diet, during the next eight years revolts sprang up across the Confederation and unlike earlier many were successful. In 1790 the Lower Valais rose against the upper districts, in 1791 Porrentruy rebelled against the Bishop of Basel and became the Rauracian republic in November 1792 and in 1793 the French department of the Mont Terrible. In 1795 St Gallen successfully revolted against the prince-abbot and these revolts were supported or encouraged by France, but the French army didnt directly attack the Confederation. In 1797 the districts of Chiavenna, Valtellina and Bormio, dependencies of the Three Leagues and they were quickly invaded and annexed to the Cisalpine Republic on 10 October 1797. In December of the year the Bishopric of Basel was occupied and annexed. On 9 December 1797 Frédéric-César de La Harpe, a member of the Helvetian Club from Vaud, seeing a chance to remove a feudal neighbor and gain Berns wealth, France agreed. By February 1798 French troops occupied Mulhouse and Biel/Bienne, meanwhile, another army entered Vaud, when the Lemanic republic was proclaimed, and the Diet broke up in dismay without taking any steps to avert the coming storm. On 5 March troops entered Bern, deserted by her allies, with Bern, the stronghold of the aristocratic party, in revolutionary hands, the old Confederation collapsed. Within a month, the Confederation was under French control and all the members of the Confederation were gone. On 12 April 1798121 cantonal deputies proclaimed the Helvetic Republic, One, the new régime abolished cantonal sovereignty and feudal rights. The occupying forces established a state based on the ideas of the French Revolution. Before the Helvetic Republic, each canton had exercised complete sovereignty over its own territory or territories. Little central authority had existed, with matters concerning the country as a whole confined mainly to the Diet, the constitution of the Helvetic Republic came mainly from the design of Peter Ochs, a magistrate from Basel. It established a central two-chamber legislature which included the Grand Council, the executive, known as the Directory, comprised 5 members

5.
Restoration and Regeneration in Switzerland
–
The periods of Restoration and Regeneration in Swiss history last from 1814 to 1847. Regeneration refers to the period of 1830 to 1848, when in the wake of the July Revolution the restored Ancien Régime was countered by the liberal movement, in the Protestant cantons, the rural population enforced liberal cantonal constitutions, partly in armed marches on the cities. This resulted in a backlash in the Catholic cantons in the 1830s. When Napoleons fall appeared imminent, the Act of Mediation was suspended in late December 1813, the Tagsatzung which took place between 6 April 1814 and 31 August 1815, the so-called Long Diet, met at Zurich to replace the constitution. The Diet remained dead-locked until 12 September when Valais, Neuchatel and this increased the number of cantons to 22. The Diet, however, made little progress until the Congress of Vienna, Swiss troops under General Niklaus Franz von Bachmann advanced to the Franche-Comté without orders from the diet, but were ordered back. The French fort at Hüningen near Basel was placed under siege by Austrian and Swiss troops, the Swiss were particularly eager to lay siege to this fortress after its commander General Joseph Barbanègre opened fire on the city of Basel. The Treaty of Paris of 20 November included a financial compensation for Switzerland besides the acquisition of a territorial gain. Most significantly, the Treaty included the recognition of permanent Swiss neutrality by all European powers, cantonal constitutions were worked out independently from 1814, in general restoring the late feudal conditions of the 17th and 18th century. The Tagsatzung was re-organized by the Federal Treaty of 7 August 1815, the Tagsatzung reintroduced the old flag consisting of a white cross on a red field, using it for the coat of arms and the flag of the confederation. Following the French July Revolution in 1830, a number of large assemblies were held calling for new cantonal constitutions, as each canton had its own constitution, the assemblies in each canton addressed different specifics, but they all had two main issues. First, they called for peacefully adjusting the constitutions by adjusting the way seats in local legislatures, in particular they objected to what they saw as the over-representation of the cantonal capital in the government. Secondly, they sought a way to amend the constitution, very few cantons even had a way to amend or modify the constitutions, and none of them allowed citizens initiatives to be added. The first assembly was held near Weinfelden in Thurgau in October and November 1830, followed in November by meetings in Wohlenschwil, Aargau then Sursee, Lucerne and finally the Ustertag near Uster in Zurich. In December there were three assemblies in the Canton of St. Gallen in Wattwil, Altstätten and St. Gallenkappel as well as in Balsthal in Solothurn, the final assembly was held in Münsingen in Bern in January 1831. The speeches and articles reporting on the assemblies were widely distributed, the crowds were generally well behaved and orderly. For example, in Wohlenschwil it was reported that they met in unexpectedly quiet attitude with decency, even in Aargau and St. Gallen, where the crowd marched through the streets of Aarau and St. Gallen, the protest march was peaceful. Following the assemblies and marches, cantonal governments quickly gave into the demands of the assemblies, in Basel, the conflict resulted in the split of Basel-City and Basel-Country in 1833

6.
Switzerland during the World Wars
–
During both World War I and World War II, Switzerland managed to keep a stance of armed neutrality, and was not involved militarily. However, precisely because of its status, Switzerland was of considerable interest to all parties involved, as the scene for diplomacy, espionage, commerce. Switzerland maintained a state of armed neutrality during the First World War, however, with two of the Central Powers and two of the Entente Powers all sharing borders and populations with Switzerland, neutrality proved difficult. From December 1914 until the spring of 1918 Swiss troops were deployed in the Jura along the French border over concern that the war might spill into Switzerland. Of lesser concern was the Italian border, but troops were stationed in the Unterengadin region of Graubünden. However, the managed to keep out of the war. During the war Switzerland was blockaded by the Allies and therefore suffered some difficulties, however, because Switzerland was centrally located, neutral, and generally undamaged, the war allowed the growth of the Swiss banking industry. For the same reasons, Switzerland became a haven for refugees and revolutionaries, following the organisation of the army in 1907 and military expansion in 1911, the Swiss Army consisted of about 250,000 men with an additional 200,000 in supporting roles. Both European alliance-systems took the size of the Swiss military into account in the prior to 1914. Following the declarations of war in late July 1914, on August 1,1914 Switzerland mobilized its army, by August 11 Wille had deployed much of the army along the Jura border with France, with smaller units deployed along the eastern and southern borders. This remained unchanged until May 1915 when Italy entered the war on the Entente side, at which point troops were deployed to the Unterengadin valley, Val Müstair and along the southern border. Once it became clear that the Allies and the Central Powers would respect Swiss neutrality, after September 1914, some soldiers were released to return to their farms and to vital industries. By November 1916 the Swiss had only 38,000 men in the army and this number increased during the winter of 1916–17 to over 100,000 as a result of a proposed French attack that would have crossed Switzerland. When this attack failed to occur the army began to shrink again, because of widespread workers strikes, at the end of the war the Swiss army had shrunk to only 12,500 men. During the war belligerents crossed the Swiss borders about 1,000 times, Switzerland had an outpost and a hotel on the peak. During the war, fierce battles were fought in the ice and snow of the area, the three nations made an agreement not to fire over Swiss territory which jutted out between Austria and Italy. Instead they could fire down the pass, as Swiss territory was around the peak, during the fighting, Switzerland became a haven for many politicians, artists, pacifists, and thinkers. Bern, Zürich, and Geneva became centers of debate and discussion, in Zürich two very different anti-war groups would bring lasting changes to the world, the Bolsheviks and the Dadaists

7.
Geography of Switzerland
–
The geography of Switzerland encompasses the geographical features of Switzerland, a mountainous and landlocked country located in Western and Central Europe. It is surrounded by 5 countries, Austria and Liechtenstein to the east, France to the west, Italy to the south, Switzerland has a maximum north–south length of 220 kilometres and an east–west length of about 350 kilometres. Switzerland is well known for the Alps in the south and south east, North of the Alps, the Swiss Plateau runs along the east–west axis of the country. Most of the population of Switzerland lives on the rolling hills, the smaller Jura Mountains are located on the north west side of the plateau. Much of the border with Germany follows the Rhine, though the Rhine enters Switzerland near Schaffhausen. The eastern border with Germany and a portion of Austria is drawn through Lake Constance, a portion of the southwest border with France is drawn through Lake Geneva. Switzerland is divided into 26 sovereign cantons, the cantons along the Swiss Plateau tend to be the most populous, industrial and religiously Protestant. The cantons in the Alps tend to be less populous, Catholic, Switzerland is also divided by language. There are four languages, German 63. 7% of population, French 20. 4% of population, Italian 6. 5% of population. From Bern east the population generally speaks German, west of Bern, the population generally speaks French. In the southern Canton of Ticino, most people speak Italian, Romansh, a group of dialects descended from Vulgar Latin, is spoken in several regions in the canton of Graubünden. Switzerland extends between the parallels 45°4905 and 47°4830 lat. and the meridians 5°5723 and 10°2931 long and it forms an irregular quadrilateral, of which the greatest length from east to west is 350 kilometres, and the greatest breadth from north to south is nearly 220 kilometres. Switzerland is a country, the closest coastline being at the Gulf of Genoa,160 km south of Chiasso. Its political boundaries often do not coincide with those of nature, to that river valley, the valley of the Thur, that lies between the Aare basin and the Rhine basin must be added. Two wide and undulating valleys and two deeply cut trenches thus lie on the slope of the Alps, to the north and south respectively of the great northern outlier of the Alps. The great northern outlier attains a height of 4,274 metres in the Finsteraarhorn, the highest permanently inhabited village in Switzerland is Juf at the head of the Avers valley, while the lowest is Ascona, on Lake Maggiore. Different geological phenomena shaped the landscapes of Switzerland. The Alpine orogeny had the most visible effects on the landscape, a crystalline basement formed at the beginning of the Paleozoic era, between 540 and 360 millions years ago

8.
Swiss Plateau
–
The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau constitutes one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland alongside the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps. It covers about 30% of the Swiss surface and it comprises the regions between the Jura and the Alps, partly flat but mostly hilly, and lies at an average height between 400 and 700 m AMSL. It is by far the most densely populated region of Switzerland, in the north and northwest, the Swiss Plateau is sharply delimited geographically and geologically by the Jura Mountains. In the south, there is no border with the Alps. Usually, the rising of the terrain to altitudes above 1500 metres AMSL, however, if a division into the three main regions Jura Mountains, Swiss Plateau and Alps is considered, the Alpine foreland belongs clearly to the Swiss Plateau. In the southwest, the Swiss Plateau is confined by Lake Geneva, in the northeast, by Lake Constance, geologically, the Swiss Plateau is part of a larger basin that extends beyond the border of Switzerland. At its southwestern end, in France, the plateau, in the Genevois, ends at Chambéry where Jura, at the other side of the Lake Constance, the plateau continues in the German and Austrian Pre-Alps. Many cantons of Switzerland include a part in the Swiss Plateau, the geological layers of the Swiss Plateau are relatively well known. Around 2500 –3000 metres below the surface, but considerably deeper near the Alps and it is covered by unfolded strata of Mesozoic sediments, which are part of the Helvetic nappes. Its depth gradually decreases from about 2.5 km in the west to 0.8 km in the east and these layers, like the ones of the Jura Mountains, were deposited in a relatively shallow sea, the Tethys Ocean. Above the Mesozoic layers, is the Molasse, consisting of conglomerate, sandstone, marl, the uppermost layer consists of gravel and glacial sediments that have been transported by the glaciers of the ice ages. Geologically the most important layer of the Swiss Plateau is the thick molasse sequence that accumulated at the border of the Alps due to the erosion of the concurrently uplifted mountains. The thickness of the molasse increases from west to east, the former alpine rivers built huge fans of sediment at the foot of the mountains. The eroded material has been sorted by grain size, the coarse material was predominantly deposited near the Alps. In the middle of the plateau, there are sandstones and near the Jura, clays. During the Tertiary orogenic uplift, around 60 –40 millions years ago, through processes of rising and lowering that were brought by the folding of the Alps, the area was twice flooded by a sea. The corresponding sediments are distinguished as sea molasse and freshwater molasse, even though the latter consists rather of fluvial, lower sea molasse, The limestone plateau subsided gradually, and a shallow sea invaded, spreading east to the Carpathian Mountains. The sediments consisted of fine-grained sands, clay and marl, there were no conglomerate fans since the proper Alpine folding began only at the end of that period

9.
Foreign relations of Switzerland
–
The foreign relations of Switzerland are the primary responsibility of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Some international relations of Switzerland are handled by other departments of the administration of Switzerland. The Swiss Constitution of 1999 declares the preservation of Switzerlands independence and these objectives reflect the Swiss moral obligation to undertake social, economic, and humanitarian activities that contribute to world peace and prosperity. This is manifested by Swiss bilateral and multilateral diplomatic activity, assistance to developing countries, traditionally, Switzerland has avoided alliances that might entail military, political, or direct economic action. Only in recent years have the Swiss broadened the scope of activities in which they able to participate without compromising their neutrality. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union and joined the United Nations very late compared to its European neighbors, Switzerland maintains diplomatic relations with almost all countries and historically has served as a neutral intermediary and host to major international treaty conferences. The country has no major dispute in its bilateral relations, Switzerland is home to many international governmental and nongovernmental organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross. One of the first international organisations, the Universal Postal Union, is located in Bern, the 2002 vote made Switzerland the first country to join based on a popular vote. Prior to its accession to the United Nations, Switzerland had maintained an observer role at the UNs General Assembly and its Economic. Prior to full membership it had no right to a seat as one of the members of the UN Security Council. Switzerland has also furnished military observers and medical teams to several UN operations, Switzerland is a party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice. The Swiss government on 25 June 2003, eased most of the sanctions against the Republic of Iraq in accord with UN Security Council Resolution 1483, the government lifted the trade embargo, flight restrictions, and financial sanctions in place since August 1990. The weapons embargo and the freeze, the scope of which was extended, remain in force. Though not a member at the time, Switzerland had joined UN sanctions against Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait, Switzerland also has joined UN economic sanctions imposed on Libya, Sierra Leone, UNITA, Liberia, and Serbia/Montenegro. On 15 October 2003, the Federal Council ended the restrictions on raw diamonds from Sierra Leone. Switzerland in October 2000 implemented an ordinance to enforce UN sanctions against the Taliban, which it subsequently amended in April 2001 in accord with tighter UN regulations. On 2 May 2002, the Swiss Government eased the sanctions regime in accord with UNSCR1388 and 1390, lifting the ban on the sale of acid, Afghan airlines. The weapons embargo, travel restrictions, and financial sanctions remain in force, the Swiss Government in November 2001 issued an ordinance declaring illegal the terrorist organisation Al-Qaida as well as possible successor or supporting organisations

10.
Swiss Armed Forces
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The Swiss Armed Forces operates on land, in the air, and in international waters. Under the countrys system, professional soldiers constitute about 5 percent of the military. Because of Switzerlands long history of neutrality, the armed forces do not take part in conflicts in other countries, Switzerland is part of the NATO Partnership for Peace programme. The structure of the Swiss militia system stipulates that the soldiers keep their own equipment, including all personally assigned weapons. Compulsory military service applies to all male Swiss citizens, with women serving voluntarily, males usually receive initial orders at the age of 18 for military conscription eligibility screening. About two-thirds of young Swiss men are found suitable for service, annually, approximately 20,000 persons are trained in basic training for a duration from 18 to 21 weeks. The reform Army XXI was adopted by vote in 2003. The land component of the Swiss Armed Forces originated from the troops of the Old Swiss Confederacy. The cantonal armies were converted into the army with the constitution of 1848. From this time, it was illegal for the cantons to declare war or to sign capitulations or peace agreements. Paragraph 13 explicitly prohibited the federation from sustaining a standing army, the first complete mobilization, under the command of Hans Herzog, was triggered by the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. In 1875, the army was called in to crush a strike of workers at the Gotthard tunnel, four workers were killed and 13 were severely wounded.5 million, the second largest armed force per capita after the Israeli Defence Forces. Wille was subsequently put in command of the complete mobilization in 1914. Wille also ordered the suppression of the 1918 general strike with military force, three workers were killed, and a rather larger number of soldiers died of the Spanish flu during mobilization. In 1932, the army was called to suppress an anti-fascist demonstration in Geneva, the troops shot dead 13 demonstrators, wounding another 65. This incident long damaged the reputation, leading to persistent calls for its abolition among left-wing politicians. The third complete mobilization of the army took place during World War II under the command of Henri Guisan, the Patrouille des Glaciers race, created to test the abilities of soldiers, was created during the war. In the 1960s and 1970s, the forces were organised according to the Armee 61 structure

The Old Swiss Confederacy began as a late medieval alliance between the communities of the valleys in the Central Alps, …

1550 illustration for the Sempacherbrief of 1393, one of the major alliance contracts of the Old Swiss Confederacy

The Devil's bridge was built in the 13th century to complete the road over the St. Gotthard Pass. The first stone bridge from the 16th century was damaged by war and destroyed by a flood in 1888. The image shows the second bridge built in 1826 and above it the third bridge from 1958.

Voting in Switzerland (called votation) is the process by which Swiss citizens make decisions about governance and …

The ballots and other voting documents mailed to each citizen of Berne for the elections and referendums of 30 November 2008. (Click for description)

Referendum ballot where one can answer either "yes" or "no" in the box. For the English translation, click on the image. As Switzerland has four official languages, the ballots are distributed in four versions.